The present invention relates to a sectional rack, and more particularly to a sectional rack that is easy to assemble, disassemble and clean.
Sectional furniture is widely welcomed due to its convenience in storage and transportation. Some types of the sectional furniture in the assembled state have fixed shapes and dimensions that might not be suitable for an existing room space. Most consumers would appreciate that sectional furniture, particularly a rack, a closet and the like, includes sections that could be freely assembled to any desired shape and dimensions.
A sectional rack developed in the early stage includes sections that must be connected together through fastening members, and such fastening members usually require tools to tighten them. The assembling and disassembling of the conventional sectional rack is therefore complicated and inconvenient. A sectional rack including segmented supporting post is currently available in the market. The supporting post of such sectional rack are made of metal pipes having a plurality of annular grooves spaced on the pipe. Shelves to be connected to the supporting posts are provided at three or four corners thereof with short sleeves for putting around the supporting posts and thereby connecting the shelves to the post. FIG. 1 is a perspective of this type of sectional rack 1 having the segmented supporting posts 10. FIGS. 2 and 3 are fragmentary perspective and sectional views, respectively, of the sectional rack 1 of FIG. 1. The shelf 12 is connected to the supporting post 10 through a two-part connecting member 11. Each supporting post 10 is provided on its outer surface with a plurality of equally spaced horizontal annular grooves 13 and therefore looks like a segmented post. The two parts of the connecting member 11 may be opened or closed relative to each other. A radially inward projected flange 14 is annularly provided along an inner surface of the connecting member 11 at proper position, such that when the connecting member 11 is in a closed position, it may be put around the supporting post at a predetermined position by engaging the flange 14 with one of the grooves 13. The connecting member 11 in the closed position has a downward and outward inclined outer surface, making it looks like a truncated cone. The short sleeves 15 provide at four corners of each shelf 12 have a downward and outward inclined inner surface corresponding to the inclined outer surface of the connecting member 11. The sleeves 15 are separately put around the connecting members 11 mounted on the supporting posts 10 to, on the one hand, force the connecting members 11 toward the supporting posts 10 and, on the other hand, connect the shelves 12 to the supporting posts 10.
The following are some of the disadvantages of the above-described conventional sectional rack 1:
1. The annular grooves 13 on the supporting posts 10 tend to have dust cumulated therein and it is bothersome and time-consuming to remove such cumulated dust from the grooves.
2. The annular grooves 13 are densely provided on the supporting posts 10 to produce an unpleasant sight.
3. The sleeves 15 are fitted on the connecting members 11 with their inclined inner surfaces tightly pressing against and contacting with the inclined outer surfaces of the connecting members 11 to such an extent that they could not be easily disassembled from one another when necessary. A tool must be used to knock at the shelves 12 to separate the sleeves 15 from the connecting members 11. This is, of course, very inconvenient for a user.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,676,263; 5,303,645; 5,174,676; 4,991,725; 4,799,818; 4,595,107; 4,546,887 and 4,763,799 all refer to the above-mentioned segmented posts.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a sectional rack that is easy to assemble, disassemble and clean.
The sectional rack according to the present invention mainly includes multiple vertical supporting posts, horizontal shelves and connecting members. The shelves have short sleeves provided at every corner thereof. Each supporting post is provided on its outer surface at a portion facing inward toward the rack with a plurality of equally spaced grooves. Each connecting member is adapted to firmly mount on the supporting post by engaging ribs provided on inner surface of the connecting member with the grooves on the supporting post. An outer surface of the connecting member opposite to the ribs is downward and outward inclined; and an inner surface of the sleeve of the shelf facing the inclined outer surface of the connecting member is correspondingly inclined. The association of the sleeve with the connecting member causes the inclined inner surface of the sleeve to apply a pressure on the inclined outer surface of the connecting member to force the ribs of the latter further into the grooves on the supporting post and thereby ensures stable connection of the shelf to the supporting post.
The supporting posts for the sectional rack of the present invention have preferably a non-round cross section, so that the connecting members connected thereto are not easily rotatable relative to the post. Further, portions of the outer surfaces of the supporting posts facing outward relative to the rack are smooth and can be easily cleaned.
Moreover, portions of the inner surfaces of the sleeves and portions of the outer surfaces of the connecting members other than the inclined surfaces are straight surfaces. This allows the sleeves to fitly and firmly locate on the connecting members without becoming overtightly fitted on the latter. The rack can therefore be easily disassembled when necessary.